Falling in the Black
by Eleos Argentum
Summary: A call is whispered, searching, reaching, echoing from the confines of the Dark Ocean to a forgotten part deep within Impmon: "The Seven Demon Lords must rise once again…" The DigiWorld becomes whole once more and Realities threaten to shatter. Chosen Children, DigiDestined, Tamers, Savers, must stand-up and face the True Evil; though sometimes it doesn't lay within Darkness.
1. Prelude

**Summary:** A call is whispered, searching, reaching, echoing from the confines of the Dark Ocean to a forgotten part deep within Impmon: _"The Seven Demon Lords must rise once again…"_ The DigiWorld becomes whole once more and Realities threaten to shatter. Chosen Children, DigiDestined, Tamers, Savers, must stand-up and face the True Evil; though sometimes it doesn't lay within Darkness. Multiseason 1-4

 **Disclaimer:** Someone that is not me has the rights over Digimon… I know Akiyoshi Hongo created the original concept.

I'm not using OC, nor was any Digimon here invented. Any character mentioned in this story comes from the Anime; all information comes from Digimon Wikia, Wikimon and/or DMA+Digi-Dex.

This fic is a crossover between Adventure, Tamers, Frontier and DATS. Since there were too many characters (let's face it, more than 30 characters, just counting the human ones are a little too much), I was planning to only put in here a few characters from each season –except Adventure; they are all too cool to be left behind- and send some characters to watch the grass grow or something but I finally decided to work with most of them so I can torture the ones I can't stand (Davis, Yolei, you know who you are…), though no bashing, mind you.

I'll try to give their fair share under the reflectors to all the characters, but let's face it: it's only human of me to pay more attention and care to my favorite ones, therefore I'm telling you now what to expect so you can make an educated guess regarding if you really want to read this or not.

The story will mainly focus on Tai, Sora and Matt from Adventure; T.K., Kari, Gatomon from 02 (to be honest, I fervently believe that 02 was a mistake only comparable to Dragon Ball GT; the story had great potential, but it wasn't properly developed –too many holes to make a good Gruyere cheese, and the characters were plainly… _**annoying…**_ Well, anyway…); from Tamers we have Rika, Renamon, Impmon and his Tamers, and Takato and Juri; Kouji and Kouichi from Frontier… and no one special from Savers…

There will be some romance (I like triangles! And squares! Can you icosahedron? Yeay for Geometry!) though the story won't focus on it, nor this will be Noah's Ark so that every character gets their lobster.

I'm using the American names for Digimon and most human characters (only exceptions are Makoto, Hirokazu and Juri); instead of Digimodify, I'm using Card Slash; instead of Jogress Evolution is going to be DNA Evolution; instead of DNA Charge is going to be DigiSoul Charge and some few more. This because in my country the equivalents for some Japanese terms were used instead of the American ones, so I'm more familiarized with the former. And let's be honest, they are way cooler.

Let's see this as the only Author Note. From now on, every chapter will be exclusively the story, and maybe some brief explanations.

This first chapter is brought to you by letter "P" of Pinkie Pie and color cupcake, as in Red Velvet.

 **Falling in the Black.**

Chapter One.

 _Prelude._

If you find Good you are most likely than not to find Evil. That's how it has been, that's how it will be…

But it also works the other way around; where Evil exists there is a high chance to find something else… If you look carefully, deep enough, under all the grief and sorrow… you would may able to find the Good within.

They both just are… None exists without the other. One could become the other…

You must keep in mind that Light isn't Good and Darkness isn't Evil. Nor is Light Evil, nor is Darkness Good.

Batman and Joker?

Perspective…

Evil and Good are not creatures; they are not alive and they don't possess a mind of their own. We can't blame Evil or Good for our own choices nor can we excuse others for theirs. Our circumstances do weight on our acts but they do not determine them.

The real difference between Good and Evil begins and ends with the excess. A Darkness excess creates Evil, but the same result comes from an excess of Light. Good is only possible half way, where Balance resides.

To preserve Balance you must do equivalent exchanges in both sides of the equal sign. The order does not have to be necessarily important to the actual matter…

Still…

Sacrifices must be done…

There forever shall be Two Sides of the Mirror…

Once Upon a Time… Destiny took place and the Chosen were called to fulfill their mission.

Once Upon a Time… the Missing One found the Light and lost a friend.

Once Upon a Time… the sky tore apart and the True War took place…

Once Upon a Time… Darkness buried itself within a Kind Heart.

Once Upon a Time… Evil was vanished and concealed in Darkness…

Once Upon a Time… Dreams came true and the Nightmare faded away…

Once Upon a Time… Someone believed…

Once Upon a Time… Pain and Anger lend way to a dreadful mistake…

Once Upon a Time… Death threatened to became Emptiness…

Once Upon a Time… The Legend lived anew…

Once Upon a Time… Light and Darkness reunited at last…

Once Upon a Time… the Fallen was stopped from rising again…

Once Upon a Time… Distrust… Fear… Desperation… almost got everything lost…

Once Upon a Time… Not so long ago…

But the story, our story, begins far before any of that… Maybe at the exact same time the DigiWorld was created…

Maybe even before that too…

Before seven children were taken from one Summer Camp and got to know the Digimons…

Before a human kid proclaimed himself as the Emperor of the DigiWorld…

Before Humans and Digimon fight as One…

Before a Call for Help was answered…

Before a Boy became a Man, when saving two worlds…

At the beginning, there was only one DigiWorld, connected to multiple Human Realities. But Evil has existed since unknown times, within the heart and soul of every living being, and it became stronger. Until Seven beings (the Worst One of Them All didn't get involve… not actively, at least…) were proclaimed to be the true incarnations of Darkness and proceeded to fight a War for the sake of it.

The War was cruel and long, sprinkled by loses and pain, sorrow and hurt, destruction and death… The main enemy wasn't the Seven, but the Despair their presence summoned…

By the End, the True Winner was Regret…

By the time the Seven were reduced, the Digital World had been shattered and broken beyond imagination.

A broken puzzle not likely to piece together ever again…

The sinful transgressor were split and concealed in the new different sections (almost Worlds by their own right); and each one of these new sectors was put under the care of a powerful protector. And each protector bowed to prevent –if not their return, because that would have been impossible- that more than one Demon Lord would be awaken at the time.

Because the Seven should never rise again…

 _Not Together._

Because the Seven should forever be prevented from reuniting ever again…

Time went by.

New enemies arise, new heroes were born; adventures took place and friendships were forged.

The different parts of the Original Digital World were saved once and over again.

While this took place, the Data of the Seven Evil Lords resurfaced; the ancient threat awakened anew, to fail and be defeated for mere human children and their digital companions.

A mistake, so simple, so highly unforeseen, gave the enemy the chance to fight back and the possibility to succeed.

What weakens the Light, would more likely than not strength Darkness…

-o-o-o-

The shadows shifted and twirled; his eyes narrowed in deep concentration.

Divided they must fall, but united…

 _ **They Would Bring The Fall Of Everything.**_


	2. Whispers in the Dark

**Falling in the Black.**

Chapter Two.

 _Whispers in the Dark._

… _We'll rise again and destroy those who dared to oppose us…_

… _The End of the Human Realm is near, and our Reign over the Digital one shall soon begin…_

 _Together… my Brethren…_

 _Everything will be as it shall have been from the beginning._

The words echoed in the Darkness, ringing into the very core of those they had been spoken to…

An enthusiast roar resonated through deep, dark water.

Among innocent laughter, a cruel chuckle stood.

Blue hellish eyes narrowed in delight.

Dark lips curled in a sinister smile.

Within a shell, drowsy eyes parted slightly.

With a sudden gasp and quicken heartbeat, the dream shattered…

-o-o-o-

Impmon lay on top of a tree at Shinjuku Park. The sun shone high and the breeze was cool and gentle. Down there, on the ground, the other Digimons were having fun, waiting for their human partners to be released from school and reunited with them.

The viral digimon closed his eyes and frowned; last night he had had a dream… another one… more likely a recurrent nightmare by then.

The whole thing was foggy, but Impmon still was able to pinpoint the important parts: dark, familiar silhouettes that he couldn't identify dissipating in the mist; fights and carnage; screams, cries and pleas… Beelzemon's claws rising in the air, only to fall back with lightning speed, reaping, slicing, cutting and maiming... over and over again… laughing, laughing all the time…

Those lasts were the worst.

And there was also the whispering…

There were bits of those here and there, someone talking… a smooth, dark voice, murmuring, chanting, promising, pleading, threatening, laughing… Thinking about it, that had been the first dream of the lot; the beginning of it all, actually. Impmon hadn't been able to see who was talking -at least he didn't think so-; and every time he woke up, the words faded away rapidly, impossible to recall.

The branch he was resting on quivered slightly, startling him. The little imp sat up clumsily, a ball of fire ready on his finger.

"Bah, it's you…" he muttered, casting the flame away and leaning back against the tree's rough bark. A monumental yawn escaped his mouth and he rubbed his eye drowsily.

Renamon cocked her head, watching the virus intently.

"You know, I'm aware of how handsome I am, but having you staring like that it's plainly creepy."

"What's wrong?"

Impmon snarled. "Who says there's something wrong?"

"You have not engaged in a prank war with Terriermon, tricked Guilmon, Calumon and MarineAngemon out of their food, made fun of Guardromon nor made any flirty remarks towards me."

Impmon snickered. "Hurt I'm not paying enough attention to you?"

The vixen digimon kept watching him. "What's bothering you, Impmon?"

"Nothing's bothering me!" He snapped back.

"Okay then." Renamon reappear on a nearby branch, crossed her arms over her chest and rested her back against the tree.

The silence treatment proved effective not more than two minutes later.

"I have problems sleeping. Are you happy now?"

"What kind of problems?"

Impmon sighed and massaged his forehead. "Weird dreams, nightmares, that kind stuff." He kept quiet for a while. "But they don't feel like that at all. They are… too real." He glanced at Renamon briefly; she was looking at him intently, her face remained unexpressive.

Impmon mustered the courage to say aloud what he hadn't been able to accept himself.

"I think they are memories…"

-o-o-o-

 _It's time…_

-o-o-o-

The DigiWorld have been at peace for the last months. Life was bright and happy, full of hope and good wishes.

That was, at least, until the pulse stroke…

It was a vibration, a pulse of pure power that hit the Digital World in its totality (every sector, each quadrant), morphing and twisting, bending and wrapping.

Deep purple and gray clouds appeared over the sky -over all of them- casting dark shadows over the earth, summoning the fear from every soul they fell on. Thunders and winds cut the air; the ground trembled and shook…

The landscape changed… Deserts, oceans, mountains, prairies, forests and jungles, cities and villages, appearing and disappearing at random, with anyone who happened to be in them.

Marcus clenched his teeth tightly, securing his grip over a tree with one hand and over Agumon with the other. His eyes got to stay closed due to the wind and dust flying around. He had got hit by rocks and pieces of wood and debris more than once, but he refused to lose his grip.

He knew better than that.

"Boss!"

Agumon's claw started to slip away in his hand. Marcus struggled to pull his partner towards him, but his efforts were condemned to failure when the ground underneath them gave away, sending them crashing into the darkness.

"BOSS!"

"AGUMON!"

The last thing Marcus saw before losing consciousness was his friend glitching and disappearing.

-o-o-o-

Professors Damon, Crier and Crier registered the exact moment in which the DigiWorld began to convulse and the exact moment when it stopped.

Then nothing.

Nothing at all.

Even if the menace Yggdrasil had posed had been eradicated and D.A.T.S. had been dispersed, everyone who had been involved was still in contact and ready to take matters in their hands if the need ever aroused.

And that time had come.

Spencer Damon dialed Sampsun's number thinking about his son.

He had complete confidence that Marcus could stand his ground; whatever had just happened in the Digital Word, Marcus would be able to handle it.

-o-o-o-

Static and white noise were everything Takuya could hear after his seventh attempt to call his friends. Frowning, he slipped his cellphone into his pocket and tried the house phone, getting the same result as before.

"Mom, something's wrong with the phone! Did you forget to pay or something?"

"There's something wrong with the TV too!" complained Shinya from the sofa.

"Well, what do you two want me to do about it?" questioned their mother from the kitchen. "If they don't work, they don't work. You must wait; there is probably some problem back at the central. The signals will come back eventually."

Takuya sighed and took seat besides his brother, fixing his bored gaze on the snowy screen of the TV.

His hand caressed his phone through his shorts fabric unconsciously …

-o-o-o-

Izzy's fingers tipped furiously while his eyes kept trained on his laptop screen.

Something massive had had just happened in the DigiWorld. The data he was receiving was too damaged and incomplete to determine the nature of the event, but still it was good enough to determine that, whatever cataclysm had just took place, was worst than anything the DigiDestined had ever come across with; probably something like Apocalymon's erasing.

Any kind of electromagnetic signal was as good as death for the current time, and it seemed to be global. World's economy and communications (among other areas) were about to endure a major setback, and Izzy were just too frightened to even start imagine the conditions the DigiWorld must be facing right then.

He turned his head in Tentomon's direction, watching him happily gulping down the cookies his mother had brought into the room a while ago.

He couldn't but thank God that his partner and the others' were in the Real World for the time being!

-o-o-o-

 _Clck Clnk Clck Clnk Clck Clnk_

Yamaki's Zippo was doing little, if nothing, to calm its owner's nerves.

Even with all the experiences Yamaki had retrieved working as head of Hypnos, with the Juggernaut program, the Monster Makers and more recently coordinating the Tamers and governmental resources to keep in line the bioemergings (he never spoke about what he used to do before any of THAT) whatever was happening then was too much for him to handle.

Once it was undoubtfully confirmed that his superiors would have to present themselves in Hypnos building instead of their usual complaining/demanding answers calls, he was forced to put his Zippo away and walked to the door, to the encounter of the Monster Makers.

Through the window, the chaos of a wire-off city was bad enough omen for the days to come…

-o-o-o-

The DigiWorld guardians and protectors –namely the Four Sovereign Beasts, the Three Celestials and Yggdrasil and his Royal Knights, as well as Gennai and his several clones and some others- had reunited, an extremely rare occasion. The place design for such an important meeting had been none other than the Dream Realm, seeing as their separated sectors were in the middle of an extreme make-over.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Zhuqiamon's yelling raised strong and powerful, mimicking the fire that surrounded him. "I DEMAND TO KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED AND WHO TO KILL!"

"Stay calm, Boy," Ebowuomon admonished. "This is not the moment to lose our heads. We must remain cool and collected in order to decide our course of action."

"I agree with Lord Ebouwoumon," stated Seraphimon. "Right now, the DigiWorld requires from us to stay focus and prevent any more damage from happening."

"We must protect what is left at any cost," nodded Cherubimon. "But that would serve for nothing if we don't also do something to discover whoever is behind this and stop them from making matters even worse than they already are."

"Stabilizing the quadrants will require all our strengths combine; to discover and fight the new evil, we shall relay on others," declared Yggdrassil, under the form of a crystal of light.

"I propose we request the assistance of the human children and their digimon partners for that particular matter," voiced Azulongmon.

Ophanimon nodded her agreement. "They have demonstrated their worth in more than one occasion at assisting our respective quadrants in the times of need."

"Why should we? My Devas and Yggdrassil's Royal Knights should be more than capable to handle this, until we are able to take matters in our own hands," Zhuqiamon retorted.

"We might require their aide and protection while stabilizing the quadrants,"

Zhuqiamon huffed. "I see you are set on bringing the traitors and those brats on this."

"It seems the logical course of action to follow at the current situation," stated Yggdrassil. "As for the culprit… There are few possibilities as to whom the responsible for the present state of our wards may be."

"What do you mean?"

"The possibility of these as result of the humans' doing is highly unlikely, since this catastrophe has affected all our planes simultaneously and the human species is unaware of the multiverses' existence. Not to mention the effects this happening must be having in the humans'' realms…"

"And who -would you mind telling me?- do you think would be able to do something like this?" spat the digital phoenix with disdain.

"The possibilities are counted. Beings with the power, resources and knowledge necessary to affect the Digital World at this degree are extremely uncommon. The most likely to be responsible must be counted among the D-Reaper, Apocalymon, Milleniummon, GranDracmon or the Seven Demon Lords. Since the D-Reaper and Apocalymon have been already taken care of, and is extremely unlike they have reformed by this time their involvement in the recent events is improbable; as for GranDracmon… there had not been any sight of him for millenniums. Some of the individuals that compose the group known as the Seven Demon Lords have reappeared independently, being defeated or restrained by one or another of the human and digimon groups.

"The most likely individual to be behind this aggression is Milleniummon. His current state is unknown, as are his whereabouts after his defeat by the human known as Ryo Akiyama.

Zhuqiamon's eyes narrowed. "The human has been in my domain recently."

"We also must consider the possibility of a new enemy," finalized Yggdrassil.

Azulongmon nodded. "We shall summon our champions and sealed the Digital Realm afterwards; the sooner the better."


	3. In Noctem

**Sorry for the wait and the bad grammar; English isn't my native language, so... Still, I try to improve, so let me know when you spot a mistake in the writing so I can correct it.**

 **Cyber-Guilmon Bread to MitzvahRose, who notice I'm using songs as the chapters' titles!**

 **That's all, please enjoy.**

* * *

 **Falling in the Black.**

Chapter Three.

 _In Noctem._

In just a day and a half the city –the world- had fallen in the most complete chaos… Every single aspect of human life that involved electronics had crashed down and every try to fix whatever was wrong had failed miserably.

Computers and telecommunications just wouldn't work anymore.

All the weirdoes that had been predicting the End of the World for next Tuesday for the last twenty years were having the time of their lives, telling all their new followers "I told you so".

Communications between nations were literally impossible, setting all kind of fears and mistrusting out of the balance. Each country was trying its very best getting ready to fall fighting, expecting an attack at any moment, suspecting everyone for the monumental fall of its systems.

Airplane travels were completely out of the question since radars and radio signals were too contaminated by some kind of electromagnetic force to be trusted and boats and trains were a stupid-or-brave choice, scratching in Russian Roulette.

Hospitals were a major havoc since most of the equipment was out of service; no need to tell you that the few nurses and doctors that were actually working instead of hiding at home were on overdrive.

Services like water and electricity had stopped working.

Banks had shut down since there was no way to handle the accounts and transactions and there was not enough physical cash to back-up the payment of salaries, retirements, etcetera; no need to tell you that any commerce that handle high amounts of effective or depended mostly of credit cards were out of business. Stores and market had gone completely empty; first by people who tried to stock themselves with first need products, getting ready to survive the end of the civilized world; later, assaulted by those who had already descended into a primitive state of fear and anger, willing to do anything, ANYTHING, in order to survive.

Violence had increased exponentially due to the fear and paranoia reigning around, becoming a mass phenomenon to the point that no one dare to step a foot out of their house unless they absolutely -and definitively- had to.

Trust no one. The Jungle Law was absolute.

Just thirty-six hours had passed since the wreckage of the Digital World and the Worlds of the Humans were already on the verge of extinction.

Welcome to Hell. Say farewell to your humanity.

-o-o-o-

"How are mom and you doing?"

Kouichi smiled warmly. "We'll handle; don't worry about it."

His twin brother frowned and grumbled, making the smile in the Warrior of Darkness's face spread wider.

"If you need anything at all…"

"I'll tell you."

Kouiji huffed, don't trusting his brother at all. They both were walking to Shibuya Station to meet the other Legendary Warriors. The streets were deserted; since signals and street lights were out of commission, traffic had been reduced to the minimum necessary, while policemen took charge of directing it. Many stores, factories and diverse working places were currently shut due to both their high dependence to electronic systems and the fact people couldn't afford any expenses with the economy completely frozen.

Too many people had been either fired or suspended.

Basic products' value had risen to outrageous levels.

And Kouji couldn't help but worry about his mother and brother.

His own father had been locked up in his office for the last two days; there was really nothing he could do about what was happening, but his bosses agreed to differ… it was either that or losing his job. And he couldn't afford it.

No one could.

"Hey, guys! Took you long enough!"

Ahead of the twins stood their friend, Takuya Kanbara, hands on his hips, broad smile; behind the Warrior of Fire stood the rest of the set.

"Any luck?" questioned Kouichi once they were all together.

"Not at all. All stations are closed. It's too dangerous to operate the lines with the systems all crazy like this," J.P. explained.

"That means that, even if Lady Ophanimon calls for us, we won't be able to reach the Trailmons…" said Zoe with concern.

"Trailmons don't operate as our regular human trains," pointed Kouiji. "Even if normal lines are out of services, Trailmons should be working. The main problem would be to pass security and take the elevator."

"I don't know if elevators are working or not," Tommy spoke.

Kouiji shrugged. "Remember last time. They took us far down than they are supposed to. If Lady Ophanimon wants to summon us to the DigiWorld, she'll find a way, no doubt about it."

"Do you really believe all that is happening is somehow related to the DigiWorld?" questioned J.P. "I mean, we stopped Lucemon and save both worlds, didn't we?"

"And what other explanation you make out of this?" retorted Takuya. "Our world and the DigiWorld are connected. Even if it isn't Lucemon it must be someone else."

Kouichi intervened in that moment. "I believe there is a high chance that this is related to something happening at the DigiWorld; it isn't too farfetched to think so. But we must also consider that it could not. We all miss dearly the DigiWorld; we can be watching white elephant where there are none. There also exists the possibility of solar spots messing with Earth's magnetic field or something like that, instead of Kerpimon becoming evil once again or Lucemon or someone else messing with the DigiWorld and affecting our world by doing so."

"No. There's something bad going on in the DigiWorld," declared Takuya without a doubt. "I can feel it. You must be able to feel it too.

"It doesn't matter what, we must find a way to go back and help. We are the Legendary Warriors! We have to!"

-o-o-o-

In some other reality, in some soccer field in Odaiba, a meeting between the original Chosen Children and the Second Generation was taking place. Sitting in a circle on the grass, both humans and digimons stared intently at a red-haired boy who was carrying a yellow laptop and a car battery, since there was no other way to power it up.

"Any news?" Tai voiced the question everyone was dying to ask.

Izzy shook his head. "No luck so far. I've tried to get in touch with Gennai but I haven't been able to. Even worse, there were several Chosen Children from all over our world at the DigiWorld when we lose contact; I don't think they have been able to come back…"

"Mimi could be one of them…" muttered Sora with worry. "And we have no way to contact her to be sure…"

"And we are not able to go back, either…" Tentomon said scratching his antennae.

Yolei sighed. "This is like Diaboromon's attack all over again…"

Davis' patience –if such thing has ever existed- had worn thin by then. "What are we gonna do, huh? You must have a plan by now!"

Izzy sighed. "I'm afraid I don't, Davis. This is extremely complicated. Whatever is happening at the Digital World is exceptionally serious to be affecting our world in such proportion. In order to fix the problem we must travel to the DigiWorld, but since the problem, whatever it is, prevents us from going there, there is little if nothing we can do about it."

"That's kind a paradox," pointed Hawkmon.

"What do you think is happening, Izzy?" Armadillomon asked.

Izzy sighed once again. "I don't know… I just don't know…"

"We'll handle it," stated T.K. with decision. "We just need to keep trying. One way or another, we'll go back to the DigiWorld."

This last statement won a unison nod from the assembled group.

-o-o-o-

D.A.T.S. old headquarters had been put back in function in the blink of an eye. Every and each one of the scare resources available were at their disposition.

Since none of the others governmental agencies seemed able to do anything about the current situation, all hope had been placed in the Savers.

A little pressure, true, but since their digital friends and the thick headed idiot (who happened to be their friend, too) were all in the world where their actual problem had originated…

Well, some people work better under pressure.

-o-o-o-

The Tamers and their Digimons had reunited with Yamaki and the Monster Makers in a meeting room at HYPNOS building. The team had run many tests, trying to figure out what was going on to no avail; they always got the same result: _ERROR._

"Just before all telecommunications fell down, we received some signals from the DigiWorld…" began explaining Mr. Wong.

"Weird signals, alarming signals…" mused Shibumi.

Most of the Monster Makers just rolled their eyes at the interruption; Janryu continued as if nothing had been said. "We concluded that something massive is happening at the Digital World right now and we are sure that is only a matter of time before whatever it is manifests itself in a more active way in our world."

"More active? So what the heck is going on in the city right now? Did the circus arrive early this year?" questioned Hirokazu.

"Kid, this is only a resonance," stated Shibumi. "Think about throwing a rock on a lake. What we are experiencing right now is not the impact of the rock on the water, but the surfs it creates. This is not the circus, not even the parade.

"As things go by, you'll have the circus main act -something on the D-Reaper's league- skidding happily on your backyard in no time."

"…That bad?"

"That bad."

Takato raised his hand. "So, why do you need us here for?"

Yamaki closed his Zippo one more time before answering. "We need you to be ready for when whatever is going to happen happens."

"So you want us to fight the thing that's bond to appear on the idiot's backyard," summarized the Digimon Queen.

"No cool, Rika!"

"Exactly," nodded Shibumi.

"What about Suzie and the twins?" asked Henry.

"They are too young; they will not get involved," declared his father.

"That's what you think but I don't believe they'll agree," pointed Terriermon.

"He's right, you know? Just because you tell them to stay back and out of trouble doesn't mean they're going to do just that," Rika said.

"Besides, Beelzemon and Antylamon's help would come handy," shrugged Ryo. "The more the merrier, especially since we have no idea what we are going to come across with."

Both Henry and his father gave him a nasty glare.

"They got a point," Yamaki acknowledged; "besides, they will be safer here with us than anywhere else. If need comes, their Digimons can join the battle while we keep an eye on them."

"We'll discuss this later," grumbled the elder Wong.

"You are not sending us back once we are done like last time, are you?" Terriermon questioned.

"I honestly hope we don't have to."

It got settled that the Tamers and their families would stay at Hypnos headquarters while the crisis lasted; just like in the D-Reaper's days. School will be spared; not a big gain since schools were already closing down due to most of the parents being too afraid to let their children out of home, anyway.

Once the meeting was dismissed, the Tamers headed to the lobby to regard their families. Renamon made a quick deliberation before turning towards her Tamer.

"Rika, there is something I need to do right now; would it bother you if I reunite with you later?"

The Digimon Queen looked at her partner with surprise. "Yeah, sure. Take your time."

The vixen nodded before disappearing in thin air. Rika stared at the point she had been standing before turning around and continue on her way.

Back at the meeting room, Shibumi was the only one left. He was still on his chair, stretching his muscles and popping his back. The sudden apparition of a rather tall yellow fox digimon sent him crashing to the floor.

"Mister Mizuno, may I have a word with you?"

Shibumi blinked, surprised by the sudden request.

"Uhm… sure?" The man shrugged, getting up with as much dignity as he could muster. "What you wanna talk about?"

-o-o-o-

Marcus woke up to find himself lying on a hard dirt floor; the place was pretty dark; some dancing orange lights a little far away that casted the shadows of the bars that kept him away from freedom revealed the presence of torches. The air carried a strong smell of moisture with just the right touch of cries and screams. Marcus struggled to stand up, massaging a fresh bump that was beating on top of his head.

"Once I got the plate of the stupid truck that hit me…" The fighter stumbled to the entrance of his cell and peeped out; at left and right, the corridor extended farthest than his sight allowed him to see; every few yards, there was another cell, just like the one holding him, and, between each cell, stood a torch hanging from the wall. He finally spotted the guards (at least, he thought they were the guards): a group of five Bakemons stood a little away, chatting among themselves.

"Hey, you! Bad excuses of a sheet! Where the Heck am I and where is Agumon?!" He yelled, tightening his grip around the bars.

"Shut up, human!" yelled back one of the digi-ghosts. "Prisoners are not allowed to talk!"

"Do you know who you are talking to?! I'm Marcus Daemon, the Ultimate Fighter! I can beat the hell out of you and I'm doing it as soon as I'm outta here!"

This statement caused the Bakemons to break out laughing hysterically.

"A puny human like you? HA!"

"Your partner isn't anywhere near here!"

"What you wanna do? Kill us from laughter?"

"COME HERE AND I'LL SHOW, YOU GASPER REJECT!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" One of the other prisoners screamed. "THINGS ARE BAD ENOUGH AS THEY ARE NOW WITHOUT YOU MORONS THROWING A FIT!"

"HEY, LEAVE HIM ALONE!" cried another prisoner. "HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO VENT UP HIS FRUSTRATION!"

"YEAH! WELL, HE'S AGGRAVATING MINE! AND SO ARE YOU! SHUT THE HECK UP!"

"WOULD YOU MORONS SHUT UP?! SOME OF US WANT TO BASK IN OUR MISERY IN PEACE!"

The bickering continued for a while longer.


End file.
